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In Memoriam 



John Morrow Cochran 



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Born June 18, 1808 
Died August 24, 1889 









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COMMERCIAL GAZETTE JOB PRINT, 
CINCINNATI. 



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To Martha Jans Cnchran, 

J aim M, Cochran's aged widnwi 

his nearest and best friend frnm ynuth tn nld age, 

his wife and companion fDr nearly sixty 

years, the mother nf his children; 

in ravBrancB, gratitude, and love, 

by their sans and daughters, 

is this beak inscribed, 

January, 1B31, 



INTRODUCTION. 

The story of a long and useful life, devoted for 
the most part to a rural community, can be briefly 
told. Its incidents have mainly concerned per- 
sons of obscurity, many of whom have already 
passed into death and oblivion. The unwritten 
history of such a life, however symmetrical and 
beautiful it may be, however deeply individual 
influences may have been impressed on surround- 
ings, is likely to be soon forgotten. The honored 
name that was a household word in a large neigh- 
borhood for so many years soon follows to the 
grave the body of the man who bore it, because 
it has not gained prominence on the records of a 



IN MKMORIAM 



State or Nation. Yet a good name is none the 
less worthy though it be doomed to soon pass 
into the dust, nor is a man who has honestly 
and faithfully fulfilled his mission on earth less 
deserving of honored mention though he may not 
have sought or acquired what the world calls 
fame. 

The purpose of this little book is modest and 
befitting the simple life of him in whose memory 
it is written. Upon his grave has been placed a 
granite monument, according to the custom of the 
times, to preserve his name and that of members 
of his immediate family. To the same end has 
this volume been prepared, in the hope that it 
may prove as suitable and lasting a monument 
as the other ; and it goes further, in recording 
names of family connections more remote, as it 
was thought proper, while about the work, to be 
at some pains to collect the data while yet pro- 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 7 

curable, and present the same in the form of the 
following pages. 

No little difficulty has been experienced in 
securing some of the information desired — a task 
which only those who have undertaken like ones 
can comprehend — and they were little points 
that may appear trivial, and yet essential to the 
connectedness and completeness of the record, 
which gave the most trouble. The main concern 
was as to the exactness of data, and the work is 
offered with the assurance that names, dates, and 
statements of fact are correct, or as nearly so as 
circumstances, involving evidence from the failing 
memories of living witnesses, would allow. How- 
ever, almost every point of any doubt has been 
verified, and this little family history is surren- 
dered into the hands of friends with the confidence 
that it is as trustworthy as could be written at 
this time, and more so than would be possible at 



IN MEMORIAM 



a later date, with aged witnesses departed and 
the few written records scattered and lost. 

Acknowledgments for courtesies and aids in 
the collection of materials for this volume are 
due to 

Josiah Morrow, Esq., of Lebanon, O.; 

Judge Wm. R. Cochran, of Hamilton, O.; 

Robert Cochran, Esq., of Maysville, Ky. ; 

Judge William Cothren, of Woodbury, Conn. ; 

Dr. Robert L. Annan, of Emmitsburg, Md.; 

Judge R. H. Cochran, of Toledo, O.; 

General John Cochrane, of New York City. 






JOHN M. COCHRAN 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

John Morrow Cochran was born in Adams 
County, near the town of Gettysburg, Penn., on 
June 18, 1808. In the year 1814 his father, with 
wife and three young sons, in a wagon drawn by 
a five -horse team, accompanied by a saddle-horse 
for the woman, too timid to travel by river, left 
his old neighborhood and took up the long jour- 
ney over the mountains to seek a new home amid 
the forests of the Miami Country in the Great 
West. Mrs. Cochran's brother, the subsequently 
famous Governor of Ohio, Jeremiah Morrow, had 
preceded them some years, and at his home at 
Twenty- mile Stand, on the Little Miami "River, 
the party sojourned until the autumn of 18 14, 
when the family located on a farm, which the 
father had meanwhile purchased, between the 
villages of Springfield (now Spring Dale) and 



10 IN MEMORIAM 

Sharon, in Hamilton County, and a little to 
the north of the site of the present village of 
Glendale. 

This original purchase comprises part of the 
beautiful and valuable tract of land on which the 
subject of this sketch made his home the greater 
part of his life, and of which he died possessed. 
The pioneer log house stood on a little knoll a 
quarter of a mile to the northeast of the present 
Cochran residence, near Glendale. Its site is 
marked by an unused stone -walled well, and near 
it until recent years stood the relics of a fine 
apple-orchard. Subsequently the family removed 
to a more comfortable log house a third of a mile 
southward, where at this writing stands a noble 
sycamore -tree, which the Cochran boys remem- 
bered in hoary age to have been a mere twig in 
their young days. 

John M. Cochran attended a subscription school 
in Springfield, and afterward Miami University, 
in Oxford, Butler County. Among his fellow- 



JOHN M. COCHRAN- 11 

students were Governor Charles Anderson, Pro- 
fessor Freeman G. Cary, and Hon. Robert C. 
Schenck. His father, having purchased a grist- 
mill on Indian Creek, in Millville, Butler County, 
Ohio, and adjacent lands, removed thither from 
the Hamilton - county farm in April, 1825, an< ^ 
there died in 1828, the milling and farming busi- 
ness being thereafter conducted by his wife and 
sons. In June, 1832, John M. married, and on 
November 20th of the same year moved with his 
young wife to the Hamilton -county farm, part of 
which he had inherited from his father, locating 
on the very spot where afterward was built the 
house in which he died. On April 4, 1837, he 
returned to Millville to conduct a general store, 
and on March 27, 1839, returned to Springfield 
Township, locating in the village of Springfield, 
his farm being occupied by a tenant on lease. 
About that time he became the president of the 
Hamilton, Springfield and Carthage Turnpike 
Company, and, excepting a temporary resignation 



12 IN MEMORIAM 

for about a year, served in that capacity until 
his death, his official career covering just half a 
century. On March 30, 1843, ne moved on the 
farm again, and made it his home until he died. 

One night in March, 1848, his house was dis- 
covered to be on fire from some cause never 
definitely ascertained. He was awakened by the 
barking of his dog, aroused his family, and all 
made good their escape. Neighbors ran from 
every direction to lend assistance, but the house, 
with most of its contents, was destroyed. By 
November of that year a new house — large, com- 
fortable, and substantial, framed of heavy hard- 
wood timbers hewn from the farm forests, and 
finished throughout in the most careful manner — 
was ready for occupation. The characters of men 
may often be judged by the houses which they 
build for themselves. This one, framed of sound- 
hearted oak and which has resisted the storms 
of many years, well exemplifies the character of 
the man who built it. The firm old house, 



JOHN M. COCHRAN— 13 

remodeled and enlarged in 1872, stands to this 
day. In it a large family of children was reared, 
in it a dear old mother still abides, and about it 
many fond memories cluster. 

Industrious always in his main pursuits, frugal 
and provident in his habits, ambitious to serve 
the interests of his family, Mr. Cochran yet dis- 
played throughout his whole life great public 
spirit, and took an active part in many local and 
state affairs. In this respect, in his limited sphere, 
no man stood more prominent than he. Indeed 
for fifty years he was the foremost figure in the 
community in which he lived. During his young 
manhood he was for four years clerk of Spring- 
field Township, and for three years in later life 
served as trustee of the township. He was a 
director in the Miami Bridge Company, in Ham- 
ilton, until the bridge, carried away by flood in 
September, 1866, was replaced with one by Butler 
County. He remained a director of the public 
school in his district until his family had grown 



14 - IN MEMORIAM 

to maturity and scattered. He was for many 
years an officer in the Hamilton County Agricul- 
tural Society. He served four terms in the House 
of Representatives of the Ohio Legislature. His 
first election was as early as the stirring campaign 
of 1840, and in days when journeys to and from 
the State Capital in Columbus were made by canal 
and stage-coaches. In legislative affairs he had 
no distinction for oratory, but made a reputation 
for strong and faithful committee-work, in which 
his industry and able judgment were brought to 
bear with great efficiency. He was again elected 
to the legislature in 1864, in 1866, and lastly in 
1872, serving in all seven years. 

In 1863 he revisited his old home in Pennsyl- 
vania, going by appointment of Governor Tod, 
of Ohio, as an official representative of the State 
to the dedication of the military cemetery at 
Gettysburg, where one of the greatest battles of 
the last war was fought. There in an old church- 
yard, amid scenes that had been swept by the 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 15 

fiery whirlwinds of civil conflict, he contemplated 
the humble graves of his ancestors who lived 
before and during the American Revolution. 

Mr. Cochran held a commission from Governor 
Robert Lucas, of Ohio, bearing date December 30, 
1834, as adjutant of the First Regiment of the 
State Militia, of which Griffin Halstead, father of 
Mr. Murat Halstead, the distinguished American 
editor, was the colonel. During the civil war 
Mr. Cochran, though he did not enter the army, 
being beyond the military age and physically 
incapacitated for active field service, contributed 
liberally to the support of the Government in 
money and service as a member of the Military 
Committee of Hamilton County. 

In party politics he was a Republican. He 
came of the "Old-line Whigs," and his sentiments 
were with that party until its final dismember- 
ment ; but as the Republican party established its 
greatness in resisting the attempted disunion of 
the States, he joined with its fortunes. He was not 



16 IN MBMORIAM 

a politician in the base acceptation of that word, 
bnt was a partisan from principle and patriotism. 
At a time when the red hand of war was uplifted, 
and enemies of his country abided not only in the 
South, but also in the North, and in his own 
neighborhood, he in company with an "Old -line 
Democrat" and a true-hearted man, James Larew, 
effected the first Republican organization in 
Springfield Township, and remained steadfast 
with his party until the close of his life. Already 
had he borne trials in the maintenance of his 
political sentiments. Prominent in the famous 
and successful Whig presidential campaign of 
1840, and in every subsequent campaign, his faith- 
fulness to party was exemplified through many 
years, while with firmness and zeal he sustained 
his principles amid the discouragements of a 
hopeless minority. Neither bigot nor enthusiast, 
his was the steady course. While he could find 
fault with the actions of his own friends, he had 
no respect for the shuttlecocks of politics ; and 



JOHN M. COCHRAN. 



when double evils were presented he chose what 
in his judgment was the less, and supported the 
"straight ticket." His course in this respect was 
a mark of his general character. Year after year, 
in party sunshine or cloud, it was his practice to 
be at the polls early in the morning, to assist in 
the organization, to see that his party had a fair 
representation, and usually he served as an officer 
of elections. Although he asked nothing and 
received little for his services in the way of politi- 
cal honors, he always had a taste for politics, and 
took a lively interest in public affairs and public 
men — local, state, and national. 

By occupation Mr. Cochran was a farmer. He 
delighted in the cultivation of the soil, and took 
great pride in farm improvements and good live- 
stock, as his neat, well -fenced, and well -drained 
fields, good crops, substantial buildings, and well- 
fed and healthy animals testified. In youth he 
learned civil engineering and land surveying, and 
in connection with his farming operations prac- 



18 - — IN MEMORIAM 

ticed these with pleasure and profit throughout 
life. As he would say, he measured the country 
all about him twice over, and knew every land- 
mark, from the stately tree to the buried stone. 
With a reputation for competency and integrity, 
he was frequently called upon by neighbors, near 
or far, to lay out public and private roads, measure 
farms, make out notes, mortgages, and deeds of 
sale, write wills, and settle estates. It has been 
well said of him, in a former biographical sketch-, 
that he had "probably surveyed more land and 
settled more estates than any other man in Ham- 
ilton County." For half a century in affairs that 
have been mentioned he was the leading man in 
the country around. So when he was dead it was 
gracefully and properly said of him that a land- 
mark had disappeared, that, like a fallen veteran 
of the forest, could never be replaced. Thus 
wrote an absent son at the time of his death : 

"I thank God we have had such an ancestor. 
He inherited largely from his uncle, Jeremiah 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 19 

Morrow, who was also a farmer, a surveyor, and a 
politician, and had he lived as early would have 
been honored with as much public station, had he 
desired it. He did well whatever he undertook. 
His handiwork about the farm, the making of a 
gate or the shaping of a wooden pin, bore the 
peculiar marks of his skill. And these qualities 
he carried into his higher work. His excellent 
judgment would have made him a grand adviser 
and director in a great battle had he been edu- 
cated as a soldier. There was so much equipoise 
about him ! He was outspoken, sometimes blunt ; 
but it was so with everybody. Those who came 
to his funeral — all who had much to do with 
him — recognized the fairness of his character — 
a plain, frank, capable, honest man. He died as 
he had lived, with no blemish upon his name. 
His moral worth was in equilibrium with his men- 
tal. He was a positive force in both respects in 
the community — a robust man in his threefold 
nature. He had a long, useful life, the influence 



20 IN MEMORTAM 

of which for good perpetuates itself. God never 
lets such men die in the moral activities they 
quicken and set to work in others. May it be 
our highest honor to illustrate our father's virtues 
during the remainder of our life-work. He would 
not have been the man he was but from a deep 
religious sense ; and while he never saw his way 
clear to identify himself with the Church by per- 
sonal connection with it, yet we all know his 
sentiments toward it. I am satisfied he thought 
more than he demonstrated. He met death with 
composure — not stoically, but 'sustained and 
soothed by an unfaltering trust.' " 

Plain, practical, methodical, well - considered 
directness was a marked feature of Mr. Cochran's 
character. He thought before he acted always, 
and then he went straight to the mark. He drew 
a plow- furrow across a field as he would lay out 
a line due north and south with surveying instru- 
ments. His buildings and other improvements 
on his farm were all of his own planning, and 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 1>1 

largely of his own execution. Of medium height, 
robust physical constitution, stout, compact figure, 
but with active, strong limbs, large -headed, clear- 
eyed, he led an industrious, energetic life, and 
looked the world bravely in the face, never falter- 
ing until the infirmities of old age were heavy 
upon him. Early as a leader in the fields of farm- 
labor, early away with his horse and buggy for a 
day's surveying, punctual to appointment, he was 
able to accomplish much in a long life. And his 
opportunities were great. He followed closely 
the original pioneers who began the great task 
of clearing away the forests and converting the 
wilderness between the Miami rivers into one 
of the most beautiful valleys in the world. He 
lived during what may be termed the middle 
period, by many considered as the most interest- 
ing, if not the most romantic, in our western 
history. He and his contemporaries took up the 
unfinished work of the pioneers and carried it to 
completion. To him was allotted a full share ; 



22 IN MRMORIAM 

and there remained much to do. There were 
fields to clear and farms to improve, roads to 
open and bridges to build. In his time steam- 
boats, railroads, and electrical inventions were 
introduced with all their attendant advancements. 
He was familiar with all this progress. He held 
personal acquaintance with most of the famous 
men who in early days were lured westward by 
the attractions of young Cincinnati and the Miami 
Valley, and with some who were actively engaged 
in the Indian wars. 

In spite of advanced age Mr. Cochran held on 
in his steady course of energetic life until about 
four years preceding his death. In the early 
summer of 1885, while serving on the Jury Com- 
mission of Hamilton County, he took a cold that 
developed a long-standing catarrhal trouble into 
a fever, which threatened his life. He to some 
extent recovered, but it maybe said that from that 
period his health declined. He suffered much, 
and began to feel that the end was drawing near. 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 23 

He accordingly prepared for it, and put his busi- 
ness affairs into perfect shape, being possessed of 
a very comfortable pecuniary fortune, and owing 
no man a dollar. In the summer of 1889 the 
disease manifested itself in the alarming form of 
heart-failure, and early in the morning of August 
24, 1889, surrounded in his home by his aged 
wife (with whom he had lived for more than fifty- 
seven years), five sons, three daughters, and an 
adopted daughter — every member of the imme- 
diate family except a son in California — he passed 
away. For some weeks he had been fully pre- 
pared for death, and welcomed it. The funeral 
was very largely attended by neighbors and more 
distant friends, among whom were his brother, 
Judge William R. Cochran, of Hamilton, Ohio, 
and several other aged ones who had been friends 
in his early youth. The pall -bearers were the 
five sons present and a son-in-law. The burial 
was in the family lot in Greenwood Cemetery, at 
Hamilton, Ohio. The funeral address was bv 



24 IN MEMORIAM 

Rev. Dr. Ludlow D. Potter, of Glendale, Ohio, 
an old friend of the deceased, who in the course 
of his remarks said : 

"Here our friend who is dead spent his boy- 
hood, encountering the trials and hardships of the 
early settlers, and here through all the wondrous 
changes of the country and the times, for more 
than three -score and ten years, he has lived. 
These fertile fields have been constantly before 
his eyes from his childhood. All the men who 
laid the foundations of our commonwealth and 
shed luster upon our early history, and with many 
of whom he was personally acquainted, have long 
since passed away. Nearly all of the associates 
of his youth and manhood have also passed on 
before him into the unseen world. Mr. Cochran 
enjoyed in his youth such educational advan- 
tages as were accorded to very few in those early 
days, having passed from the common schools, 
which in this township were better than in most 
of the other parts of the State, to Miami Univer- 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 25 

sity. There, under the guidance of that wonderful 
man, Dr. Bishop, whose name he and all his 
fellow-students so revered, and of his coadjutors, 
and in association with others, several of whom 
afterward became distinguished lights in our po- 
litical firmament, he fitted himself for the sphere 
in which he was afterward to move. With such 
advantages, coupled with the integrity, good sense, 
and fidelity which ever characterized his life and 
work, it is not surprising that he was often called 
into public life and to undertake many important 
public trusts. Besides other minor but respon- 
sible offices which he held during the greater part 
of his life, he was elected very early to a seat in 
the State Legislature. He was re-elected several 
times, and continued to exercise these and other 
duties pertaining to the county and State, at the 
call of his fellow-citizens, until a very recent date, 
when the infirmities of increasing years began 
to impair his physical vigor. In the settlement 
of great numbers of estates, the care and custody 



26 — IN MEMORIAM 

of orphan children, and attention to 'the father- 
less and the widow,' he has been in all this region 
of country the conspicuous actor. You who have 
long been his friends and neighbors will bear wit- 
ness to the truth of my words when I say that 
for years and years, whenever there was a call for 
the services of a man of tried wisdom, honesty, 
and integrity in some important trust in this com- 
munity, all eyes turned to Mr. Cochran as the 
man for such service. The value of long years 
of such service in the community, the county, and 
the State no one can estimate. We owe him a 
debt of honor and respect which we can never 
pay, but which we should remember to-day with 
grateful hearts. It is a comfort to his family and 
to us all that in his old age he was not doomed 
to a second childhood, but retained his faculties, 
and could be the wise counselor of his family 
under the paternal roof and of his scattered house- 
hold down to the last of his earthly life. And so 
to-day he comes to his grave in a good old age, 






JOHN M. COCHRAN 



honored and beloved not only by his lifelong com- 
panion, his sons, his daughters, and numerous 
relatives, but by all of us who now gather about 
his lifeless body to pay our last tribute of honor 
and affection. 

"Mr. Cochran never became a member of the 
visible Church of Christ by making a public pro- 
fession of religion. While health and strength 
remained he was always a regular attendant with 
his family in the house of God, and an attentive 
listener to the gospel message. He took a deep 
interest not only in the intellectual and moral but 
even in the spiritual life of his children. He may 
not have said so as it respects their spiritual life, 
but his unspoken thoughts plainly indicated it. 
He was reticent and very undemonstrative upon 
the subject of religion. Still, that he was a man 
of prayer and at times held converse with God 
I do not doubt. With such respect as he had for 
religious people and religious things, with such 
knowledge of religious truth, and with such a 



•28 _IN MEMORIAM 

sober and reflective mind, it conld not be other- 
wise. It affords me great pleasure to say that in 
his last hours he gave a comforting assurance to 
his family and friends that he had committed his 
soul into the hands of that compassionate Savior, 
the value of whose atoning blood he had so often 
tacitly acknowledged — faith in which, on his 
dying-bed, he admitted and felt to be 'the one 
thing needful."' 



JOHN M. COCHRAN -29 



THE COCHRAN FAMILY. 

John M. Cochran was of an old Pennsylvania 
family of that name. His mother was of the 
Morrow family. He married Martha Jane Wilson, 
whose mother was of the Dick family. The fonr 
families — Cochrans, Morrows, Wilsons, and 
Dicks — all emigrated from Pennsylvania, settled 
in the Miami Valley at an early day, and were 
prominently identified with its civilization. 

It can not be definitely stated at this time 
when Mr. Cochran's ancestry of his name came 
to America; but the old cemetery at Gettysburg, 
Penn., bears the record of the birth (a. d. 1699) 
and the death (17 71) of William Cochran, who 
lived and died in Pennsylvania, and from whom 
John M. Cochran was descended. In 1764 Mar- 
garet, daughter of William Cochran, married Rev. 
Robert Annan, who was born in Scotland, and 



30 IN MEMORIAM 

was sent as a missionary to this country in 1762. 
There is no doubt of the Cochrans being of Scotch 
origin. Some of the family emigrated to the 
north of Ireland and some to England. It has 
always been the understanding that John M. 
Cochran's people came from England. As some 
evidence of this may be instanced a tradition in 
the family that an English legacy awaited the 
claims of American heirs. The marriage of Robert 
Annan to William Cochran's daughter in 1764 
establishes the family in this country at a date at 
least as early as that year ; but there are records 
of Pennsylvania residence of considerably earlier 
date. There is indeed a possibility that the Coch- 
rans came in company with, or contemporaneously 
with, a small party of Irish Presbyterians and 
English Episcopalians, who in 1650 sailed up the 
Pocomoke River and settled at what is now known 
as Snow Hill, in Maryland, named after an old 
London suburb. A party of French Huguenots 
and Quakers subsequently joined the little colony, 



JOHN Ms COCHRAN -31 

which contributed not a few early settlers to Penn- 
sylvania. 

The Cochran family originated in the High- 
lands of Scotland, and belonged to the great and 
warlike clan or tribe of Campbell. The Earl of 
Dundonald, the head of those who have borne the 
name of Cochrane (spelled with the final e) ) had 
much to do in the varying fortunes of Mary 
Queen of Scots. Sir John Cochrane, second son 
of the first Karl, was a fugitive under the reign of 
Charles II., and engaged under the Karl of Argyle 
in the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion against 
James II. He was arrested and taken to London 
to be tried for treason, but was pardoned by King 
James on a bribe of five thousand pounds being 
offered to the priests of the royal household by 
his father, Lord Dundonald. 

The earldom of the Earl of Dundonald is at 
Dundonald, in Lanarkshire. It was in close prox- 
imity to or embraced in the lands and royal 
residence of the Stuart family for a long period 



32 .IN MEMORIAM 

of years down to the time of the ill-fated Queen 
of Scots, who resided there with Darnley. 

The Cochranes have been numerous. The 
principal families of the name resided in Renfrew- 
shire and Ayrshire. Another family of note 
resided in Linlithgowshire. John, son of Sir John 
Cochrane, lived at Watersyde; William, son of 
James second, lived in Lanarkshire; and William, 
son of W T illiam, "hired the same lands. 1 - Several 
of these families have ermine in their arms, show- 
ing their connection with the royal family. From 
the first Earl of Dundonald are descended all of 
the name in this country. As early as 1570 John 
Cochrane emigrated from Paisley to the north of 
Ireland, and thence his descendants moved to 
America and settled in Pennsylvania. Members 
of this branch were distinguished in the war of 
the Revolution, Dr. John Cochran being Wash- 
ington's surgeon - general, and from them are 
descended General John Cochrane, of New York 
City, who writes to the editor of this volume as 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 33 

follows : " Doubtless the Scotch use the e final. 
The north -of- Ireland immigrants dropped it, for 
what reason, if any, I do not know, though it is 
not beyond conjecture. Our family retain the Irish 
spelling, except myself, who adopted the suffix e 
to protect my letters, when in 1846 I first came to 
the city, from the hands of another John Cochran. 
Having been much in public life since, I have not 
thought it advisable to return to the original Irish 
spelling." 

Upon this subject Judge William Cothren, of 
Woodbury, Conn., who in the second volume of 
his " History of Ancient Woodbury,'- published in 
1854, traces the Cochrane family into the Scottish 
Highlands, writes to the editor: "We now spell 
our name Cothren, which more nearly approxi- 
mates the Scotch pronunciation. The Yankees 
would persist in pronouncing the first syllable 
kok instead of the gutteral sound koh. My grand- 
father hated the sound kok; so he changed the 
spelling." John M. Cochran, the subject of this 



34 IN MEMORIAM 

memorial, retained the old Scotch method, and 
pronounced his name Kohran or Kaughran. 

The great- grandparents of John M. Cochran 
(on the Cochran side) were William Cochran, born 
1699, died 1771 ; and Sarah Cochran, born 1702, 
died 1785. His grandparents were James Coch- 
ran, born July 8, 1732, died December 8, 1810; 
and Jane Cochran, born November 14, 1742, died 
January 4, 1815. His parents, who were married 
June 20, 1805, were William Cochran, born in 
Adams County, Penn., May 3, 1775, died November 
15, 1828; and Rebecca (Morrow) Cochran, born 
in Adams County, Penn., January 12, 1779, died 
February 8, 1 838. His brothers were James W. 
Cochran, born April 4, 1806, died May 16, 1880; 
and William R. Cochran, born March 17, 181 1, 
and now living. 

The Annan family were connected with the 
Cochrans by two marriages. One was that by 
Rev. Robert Annan to Margaret Cochran, in 1764, 
already noted. They had three children, one 



JOHN M. COCHRAN __^.__ 35 

daughter and two sons, Robert Landales and Wil- 
liam, both of whom studied medicine. William 
remained in Philadelphia, where he practiced 
medicine, and died there during an epidemic of 
yellow fever in 1797. Robert L. went to Carrolls- 
burg and married his cousin Mary, daughter of 
James Cochran. From these were descended 
Robert Annan, of Annandale, who died in 1866, 
and Dr. Andrew Annan, of Bmmitsburg, Md., 
who survives at this writing, in good health, in 
his eighty-fifth year. 

John M. Cochran's great-grandfather William 
moved from Delaware County, Penn., to Carrolls- 
burg, then York County, now Adams County, in 
1732. He left four sons — Andrew, William, James, 
and John. James had one daughter, Melinda, and 
two sons, William (John M. Cochran's father) and 
James. This latter, James (John M. Cochran's 
uncle), studied medicine in Philadelphia, became 
a famous physician in Pittsburgh, and died in that 
vicinity. He was a stout, heavy man, and his 



36 IN MRMORIAM 

death resulted from a fall from a porch. He mar- 
ried a Miss Black, by whom he had two children, 
and married a second time. 

William Cochran (John M. Cochran's great- 
grandfather), who moved to Carrollsburg in 1732, 
♦ in common with Samuel Emmit and William 
Brown, purchased from Barrister Carroll five thou- 
sand acres of land, called Carrollsburg, which 
was held under Maryland title, but when the line 
between Maryland and Pennsylvania was run it 
passed near the center of Carrollsburg. In the 
division of the land by Cochran, Emmit, and 
Brown, Cochran's part was located in Pennsyl- 
vania. His son James lived there until his death 
in 18 10. James's son William (father of John M. 
Cochran) removed from there to Ohio in 1814, and 
located on the farm near the present village of 
Glendale. On April 12, 1821, he purchased from 
Joseph Van Horn the mill in Millville, Butler 
County, Ohio, with thirty acres of land adjoining. 
The mill was built in 1805 by Joel Williams, one 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 37 

of the founders of Cincinnati, and it is to-day 
one of the very few water-power grinding-mills 
in operation in the Miami Valley. On April 19, 
1822, William Cochran purchased from Van Horn 
an adjoining tract of ninety acres, containing the 
homestead to which he moved in April, 1825 ; anc ^ 
furthermore purchased from Van Horn, September 
4, 1826, an adjoining tract of seventy-seven acres, 
having in the mean time purchased from James 
Cobb, of Cincinnati, eighty acres more. This 
extensive tract of land, together with the mill and 
the farm in Hamilton County, he, although confined 
most of the time to the house with rheumatism, 
with the assistance and prudent management of 
his wife, occupied, improved, and successfully 
carried on until his death, in 1828, in the fifty- 
fourth year of his age. William and Rebecca 
Cochran were members of the Associate Reform or 
United Presbyterian Church, and attended worship 
m the town of Hamilton. Their remains were 
interred in the old burial-ground in Hamilton, 



38 IN M E M O R I A M 

and were afterwards removed to the family lot of 
the eldest son, James W. Cochran, in Greenwood 
Cemetery, Hamilton. 

James W. Cochran, the eldest son, was born on 
April 4, 1806, and died on the old homestead in 
Millville, to which he fell heir from his parents. 
He was known throughout the county as an indus- 
trious, practical farmer, and reared a large family 
in comfort and respectability. He was first mar- 
ried to Hannah J., daughter of William Wilson, 
of Butler County, by whom he had four children — 
Mary, married to David Sample ; William, mar- 
ried to Susan J. Whipple; Jane, married to Samuel 
Whipple ; and Rebecca, married to Cornelius Lane. 
After the death of Hannah J. he married on Jan- 
uary 31, 1845, Miss Mary J. Hill, who was born 
December 8, 1824. To them were born eight 
children — Lizzie C, born December 13, 1846; 
Taylor, born March 17, 1848; John Webster, born 
August 26, 1852 ; Robert Hill, born June 28, 1855; 
Anna May, born July 9, 1858; James Seward, 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 



-39 



born June 3, 1861; Fannie, born May 25, 1864; 
and Laurena, born July 11, 1867. Taylor mar- 
ried Hannah Gillespie, John W. married Mamie 
Williams, Robert married Margaeretta Hair, and 
James married Jennie Cobaugh. Lizzie died on 
September 1, 1851 ; John W. on June 30, 1875; 
and Fannie on November 19, 1886. 

William R. (John M.Cochran's younger brother), 
who was brought from Pennsylvania to Ohio in 
the arms of his mother, who rode all the way on 
horseback behind the wagon and five-horse team, 
is now the sole survivor of that pioneer family of 
the year 1814. He was allowed the advantages 
of a good education, graduating with honors in 
the classical course in Miami University, Oxford, 
Ohio. Upon leaving school he traveled about the 
country for a time on horseback for the benefit 
of his health, visiting various parts of Pennsyl- 
vania, Ohio, and Indiana, and also Illinois, when 
the greater part of that now great State was in 
wilderness. He spent most of his life as a farmer 



40 _IN MEMORTAM 

near Millville ; but, as did his brother John, he 
performed a great deal of work in the way of draw- 
ing up legal papers for his neighbors. He served 
for a term as probate judge of Butler County, and 
now, in his eightieth year, lives in retirement in 
Hamilton, O., with his wife, Hannah Hill Cochran, 
to whom he was married February 7, 1849, and who 
is the sister of the wife of his brother, James W. 
Cochran. His children number four — Miss Jennie 
Brown Cochran, Mrs. Rebecca Jane Lefler, Wm. 
Morrow Cochran (a farmer in Butler County), 
and James Beatty Cochran, who is a farmer near 
Wichita, Kansas. 

To John M. and Martha J. Cochran thirteen 
children were born, nine of whom are living at 
this date. The eldest, William Annan Cochran, 
was born April 14, 1835. In Millville, O., Octo- 
ber 14, 1856, he was married to Julia Ann Lewis, 
born March 23, 1837, and the daughter of James 
Lewis. The marriage service was performed by 
the Rev. Adam Gilliland, who performed the same 






JOHN M. COCHRAN 41 

service for Wm. A. Cochran's parents. In early 
manhood Wm. A. Cochran went to Illinois, and 
has since followed the farming occupation. He 
now lives near Macon, Macon County. His chil- 
dren are John Lewis, born August 2, 1857; Edward 
Everett, born April 19, 1859; Martha Jane, born 
February 15, 1862; George Wilson, born April 25, 
1864, died November 14, 1867; Eliza Wilson, born 
March 22, 1866, died September 5, 1866; William 
Woods, born August 7, 1867; James Marion, born 
April 27, 1869; Maria May, born May 27, 1871; 
David Franklin, born December 12, 1872; Anna 
Belle, born November 2, 1874; and Paul Garfield, 
born February 27, 1880. John E. Cochran was 
married in 1879 t0 Carrie Floyd, who died in the 
same year, leaving a son, Clarence Eeroy. He 
was next married to Maggie C. Muzzy, Septem- 
ber 22, 1886, and to them have been born two 
children, Dora and Edna. Edward E. Cochran 
was married July 1, 1888, to Millie A. Dolen, and 
to them has been born a daughter. Martha Jane 



42 IN MBMORIAM 

Cochran was married August 14, 1884, t° Edward F. 
Hopson, and they have two children, Otho and 
William Cochran. 

The second son, Joseph Wilson Cochran, was 
born December 29, 1836. He was educated at 
Farmers' College, College Hill, O., from which 
he was graduated in 1856. He studied law in 
Cincinnati, and began practice in Decatur, 111. 
Thence he went to Peoria, where he remained a 
number of years, during which time he served six 
years as judge of the circuit court. From Peoria 
he went to Minneapolis, remaining there six years, 
and thence removed to Los Angeles, Cal., where 
he now resides. He married Mattie H. Cox, of 
Binghamton, N. Y. Their children are Joseph 
Wilson and Grace. The former received a colle- 
giate education in Minneapolis, and is preparing 
himself for ministerial service in the Presbyterian 
Church. 

The third son (unnamed) was born September 
19, 1838, and died October 26th of the same year. 



JOHN M. COCHRAN . 43 

The fourth son, John Morrow Cochran, was born 
December 13, 1839. He has spent his whole life 
at the old homestead in an industrious, moral, 
exemplary career, proving a valuable assistant to 
the father in the management of his affairs. 

The fifth son, Samuel Dick Cochran, was born 
February 13, 1842. Since boyhood he has spent 
his life in mercantile and manufacturing pursuits 
in Hamilton, Peoria, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. 
He was married in Toledo, O., November 8, 1876, 
to Marie Fitzgerald, daughter of Rev. William 
Fitzgerald, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
They now reside in Wyoming, O., and their chil- 
dren are Edgar Fitzgerald, born December 27, 
1877; Clifford Wilson, born June 23, 1880; and 
Samuel Dick, born August 28, 1884. 

The eldest daughter, Eliza Wilson Cochran, was 
born November 15, 1843, an d was educated at the 
Glendale Female College. October 12, 1871, she 
was married to Rev. Win. H. James, their children 
being Grace Cochran, born May 10, 1875, died 



44 IN MEMORIAM 

June i st of the same year; William Henry, born 
July 16, 1877; and Howard Stanley, born Septem- 
ber 26, 1880. Rev. William Henry James, D. D., 
the head of this family, was born in Deerfield, 
Cumberland County, N. J., July 16, 1833. He 
graduated at Lafayette College, Easton, Penn., in 
1862, and at the Theological Seminary, Princeton, 
N. J., in 1865. He was assistant to Rev. N. C. 
Burt, D. D., in the Seventh Presbyterian Church, 
Cincinnati, O., for one year after his graduation 
from the seminary. He began his pastoral labors 
in the Presbyterian Church in Spring Dale, O., 
July 29, 1866, and on October 2d of the same year 
was ordained by the Presbytery of Cincinnati and 
installed pastor of the Spring Dale Church, where 
he remains up to this time. He received the 
honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Miami 
University in June, 1887. 

The sixth son, Jere Morrow Cochran, was born 
November 20, 1845. He was educated at Farmers' 
College and Miami University, graduating from 






JOHN M. COCHRAN 4o 

the former institution in 1865. Since 1868 his 
life has been spent in the occupation of journalism 
in Peoria and Cincinnati, and is now associate 
editor of the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, with 
which journal he has been engaged for seventeen 
years. On January 22, 1890, in Wyoming, O., 
he was married to Carrie R. Rhodes, daughter of 
Rev. Daniel Rhodes, of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. They now reside in Wyoming, O. On 
November 21, 1890, a daughter, Louise Martha, 
was born, and died in infancy. 

The second daughter, Rebecca J. Cochran, was 
born November 3, 1847, and the third daughter, 
Nannie Cochran, was born December 3, 1849. 
They were educated at Glendale Female College, 
the latter graduating in 1869. They still reside 
at the old homestead. 

The seventh son, James Marion Cochran, was 
born December 21, 1851. He engaged in com- 
mercial pursuits in Peoria, St. Louis, and Cincin- 
nati, and in agriculture in Kansas and Illinois, and 



46 : IN MEMORIAM 

now resides on his farm in Macon County, in the 
latter State. 

The fourth daughter, Louisa Deshler Cochran, 
was born August 20, 1853, an ^ died April 12, 1854. 

The eighth son, Llewellyn Cochran, was born 
May 20, 1855, an d died December 10, 1859. 

The fifth daughter, Martha Ella, was born Sep- 
tember 16, 1857, and died December 22, 1859. 

The list of this large and in some respects 
remarkable family would be incomplete without 
adding the name of Miss Dorcas Woods, who was 
adopted into the family in her childhood, and now 
remains at the homestead, after a residence there 
of nearly three -score years of industry, upright- 
ness, and unremitting devotion to the members 
of the household. Her parents were Anthony 
and Mary Woods, and she was born near Spring 
Dale, Hamilton County, O., November 25, 1825. 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 47 



THE MORROW FAMILY. 

John M. Cochran's father married June 20, 1805, 
Rebecca, daughter of John Morrow, who lived 
near Gettysburg, Penn., and sister of Jeremiah 
Morrow, who became distinguished in Ohio. 

The surname Morrow is a modification of the 
Scotch Murray, an older form of which is Moray. 
The traditions of many families point to this 
origin. The fact that in its present form it is 
a modern name is shown by its absence from 
ancient records. It is apparently a Scotch -Irish 
name, most of the old Protestant Morrow families 
having been at some period residents of Ulster, 
Ireland, to which province they had emigrated 
from Scotland. 

A generation before the Revolution Jeremiah 
Murray, a Scotchman by blood, an Irishman by 
nativity, and a Covenanter in religion, came from 



48 IN MEMORIAM 

Londonderry, Ireland, to America, and found a 
home in what is now Adams County, Pennsylvania, 
not far from the battle-field of Gettysburg. The 
peaceful cultivation of his lonely fields in a new 
country was at times interrupted during the French 
and Indian war by incursions of hostile savages. 
On April 8, 1753, he was ordained a ruling elder 
of the Covenanter Society of Rock Creek by Rev. 
John Cuthbertson, the first Covenanter minister in 
America, at the first ordination of ruling elders 
of that Church in this country. His name is 
repeatedly mentioned in the diary of Mr. Cuth- 
bertson, which is the source of most of our 
knowledge concerning the early Covenanters of 
America. There were seven or eight little socie- 
ties of this people between the Blue Ridge and 
the Susquehanna as early as 1744, which main- 
tained their existence without a minister for 
several years. The society at Rock Creek before 
the Revolution became one of the largest and 
most important of the Reformed Presbyterian 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 41) 

Churches in America. It built the first church- 
edifice in the immediate vicinity of Gettysburg, 
and at a later day erected the first house of worship 
in that borough. The first ruling elders of the 
society, both ordained the same day, were Jeremiah 
Murray and David Dunwoody, both of whose sur- 
names have been changed by their descendants : 
the former was the grandfather of Governor Mor- 
row of Ohio ; the latter the grandfather of Rev. 
James L. Dunwiddie, D. D., of Philadelphia. \ 

Jeremiah Murray died September 14, 1758, aged 
forty-seven years. His wife, Sarah, survived him 
forty years, and died December 19, 1798, aged 
seventy -six years." They were buried in a grave- 
yard on the bank of Marsh Creek, a few miles 
west of Gettysburg. By the death of her husband 
in the prime of life Sarah Murray was left with a 
family of eight young children, the eldest of whom 
was the only son, aged fifteen years. All the chil- 
dren received a careful Christian home -training, 
and all of them married and reared families. 



50- IN MBMORIAM 

Martha, one of the daughters, was married by 
Rev. John Cuthbertson on August 29, 1768, to 
David Parkhill. She resided in Fayette County, 
Pennsylvania, where she died December 3, 1842, 
at the advanced age of ninety-six years and three 
months. Her descendants are numerous. Her 
daughter Mary was the wife of Governor Morrow. 
Sarah, another daughter of Jeremiah Murray, mar- 
ried John Bourns, a sickle-maker on the Antietam. 
Her descendants spelling their names Burns, as 
it was pronounced, are numerous in Pennsylvania. 
Jane, another daughter, married William Patter- 
son, and died November 3, 1832, aged eighty-two 
years. Elizabeth (wife of Samuel Wilson) and 
Mary (wife of John Rankin) were also daughters. 

John, the only son, was the first of the family 
to write his name Morrow. This orthography of 
his surname he adopted while a boy at school. 
The Scotch or Scotch -Irish dialect prevailed in 
the community in which he lived, and a pronun- 
ciation adhered to the name which has sometimes 



JOHN M. COCHRAN -51 

been expressed by Murrough and Moragh. John 
Morrow was an intelligent farmer and an influen- 
tial man. His farm on Marsh Creek, southwest 
of Gettysburg, was deeded to him by John and 
Richard Penn, and contained two hundred and 
twenty-two acres. His residence, in "The Masque 
Manor," was five miles from Gettysburg and four 
miles north of Mason and Dixon's line. 

The files of the Adams Sentinel, published at 
Gettysburg, bear evidence that John Morrow was 
repeatedly a delegate representing his township 
in the county nominating conventions of the 
Federal party, and generally when a delegate was 
chairman of the convention. Adams was one 
of the very few counties of Pennsylvania which 
continued to give large majorities for the Federal 
ticket subsequent to 1800, and that party at that 
time undoubtedly embraced the great majority 
of its most intelligent citizens. It is worthy of 
note that while John Morrow was the presiding 
officer of Federal conventions in Pennsylvania, his 



52 IN MEMORIAM 

eldest son was the candidate for Congress of the 
Jeffersonian Democrats in Ohio. 

He was a member and ruling elder in the Asso- 
ciate Reformed Church. Rev. Alexander Dobbin, 
a learned Scotchman, educated at Glasgow Univer- 
sity, was his pastor from 1774 until his death in 
1809. Mr. Dobbin was pastor of two churches — 
Rock Creek and the Hill Church. The house 
of worship of the latter, in a grove on a hillside 
not far from John Morrow's residence, was a large 
stone building with brick aisles, high -back seats, 
and thirteen stripes over the pulpit representing 
the original States. John Morrow was one of the 
original members of "The Franklinian Society 
of Marsh Creek," a literary society organized at 
the Hill meeting-house, October 15, 1793, and 
preserved his papers read before this society in a 
small manuscript volume, a part of which is still 
in existence. 

John Morrow was married by Rev. John Cuth- 
bertson on Wednesday, November 9, 1768, to Miss 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 



53 



Mary Lockhart, of the vicinity of Gettysburg. 
Mary Lockhart was the half-sister of Rebecca 
Hodge, who became the wife of Dr. Samuel Knox, 
of Adams County, and the mother of the distin- 
guished Rev. Dr. John Knox of the Dutch 
Reformed Church of New York City. Dr. Knox 
and Rebecca Cochran were therefore cousins. 

The family record of John Morrow and Mary 
Lockhart, his wife, who were married November 9, 
1768, is shown below: 



John Morrow ; August 30, 1743 

Mary Lockhart March 24, 1745 



Margaret ! Nov. 

Jeremiah j Oct. 

Sarah Oct. 

John Oct. 

Mary Nov. 

Rebecca . Dec. 

James 1 April 

Jane Dec. 

I Martha Mav 



25, 1769 
6, 1771 
24, 1773 
3, 1775 
10, 1777 
12, 1779 
14, 1782 
12, 1784 
21, 1787 



July 31,1811 68 
March 12, 1790 45 



March 22, 1852 



Sept. 

Nov. 

Nov. 

Feb. 

July 

April 



9, 1820 
26, 1846 
28, 1829 

8, 1838 
30, 1865 

3, 1829 
.. 1815 



80 
47 
7i 
52 
58 
83 
44 
28 



54 IN MEMORIAM 

All the children of John Morrow removed west 
and became residents of Ohio, and all but two 
of the Miami Valley. They married into worthy 
families and were influential in the development 
of the Great West, throughout which, from Lake 
Erie to California, their descendants are now scat- 
tered. The list of marriages follows : 

Margaret Morrow and Hugh Dunwoody. .Nov. 22, 1792 

Jeremiah Morrow and Mary Parkhiee Feb. 19, 1799 

John Morrow and Mary Robinson Nov. 12, 1805 

John Morrow (2d) and Mary Patterson. . .Oct. 14, 1819 

Rebecca Morrow and Wieeiam Cochran . .June 20, 1805 

Mary Morrow and Joseph Stewart March 13, 1S10 

Martha Morrow and John D. Robinson. . .Feb. 12, 181 1 

James Morrow and Margaret Knox June 15, 1815 

Jane Morrow and John Hannah Dec. 12, 1816 

The last to leave their native region were 
the eldest daughter and the youngest son. The 
first to emigrate to the West was the eldest son, 
Jeremiah, who arrived at the mouth of the Little 
Miami in the spring of 1795, Four years later 
he married his cousin, Mary Parkhill, of Fayette 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 55 

County, Pennsylvania, and established himself on 
a farm in Warren County, Ohio, where he resided 
until his death, in the eighty- first year of his 
age. 

The name of Jeremiah Morrow is the most 
prominent in the first half century of the annals 
of Ohio. He was an early pioneer in the terri- 
tory northwest of the Ohio, and began his public 
career as a member of the legislature of the North- 
west Territory. He took an active part in the 
brief but bitter contest over the admission of Ohio 
into the Union; he assisted in framing the first 
constitution and served in the first legislature of 
the State; he was the first, and for ten years the 
sole, representative of Ohio to Congress, six years 
a United States Senator, and four years Governor; 
he subsequently served in both houses of the 
General Assembly of the State and as a member 
of Congress ; he assisted in inaugurating the great 
internal improvements of the State, serving as a 
commissioner of canals, and president of the first 



56— ; IN MEMORIAM 

railroad in the Ohio Valley; and in both public and 
private life he preserved a modesty of demeanor, 
a purity and simplicity of character, as rare as it 
is pleasing. 

Governor Morrow was the father of eleven 
children, seven of whom reached maturity, mar- 
ried, and had families. John, the eldest, was a 
farmer, who at his marriage in 1822 was given a 
part of his father's land, upon which he resided 
until his death in 1887, at the age of eighty-seven 
years. Jeremiah, the second son, graduated at 
Miami University, became a minister of the Asso- 
ciate Reformed Church, and died at Chillicothe, 
O., in 1843, ^ n hi s thirty-fourth year. James M., 
the youngest son, was a farmer, who received from 
his father the homestead upon which he resided 
until his death, in 1855, in his fortieth year. Of 
the four daughters of Governor Morrow who 
reached mature years, two married farmers and 
two physicians. Martha married George Ramsay, 
Mary married David Mitchel, Rebecca married 



JOHN M. COCHRAN _ 57 

Dr. Samuel S. Stewart, and Elizabeth Jane mar- 
ried Dr. Andrew C. McDill. 

The following grandsons of Governor Morrow 
bearing the name Morrow are still living: 
Thomas E. of Santa Fe (Kan.), Josiah of Lebanon 
(O.), Prof. George E. of the Illinois State Uni- 
versity at Champaign, sons of John; Jeremiah 
of Jackson (O.), son of Rev. Jeremiah; and Theo- 
dore F. of Audubon (la.), son of James M. 

John, second son of John Morrow, of Adams 
County, Pennsylvania, emigrated to Ohio about 
1804, and purchased a farm near Bethany, Butler 
County, Ohio, upon which he resided until his 
death. He was the father of six children, who 
lived to maturity, and whose names in the order 
of their birth were John, James, Mary (Mrs. 
Andrew Stewart), Jane (Mrs. Bonner), Wilson, 
and William P. The last named was the only 
child of his second marriage. 

James, the youngest son, served in the war of 
181 2 as lieutenant of the Nineteenth Regiment 



58 IN MEMORIAM 

United States Infantry. About 1840 he moved 
from Adams County, Pennsylvania, to the vicinity 
of Gettysburg, Darke County, Ohio, where he 
resided on a farm until his death, in the eighty- 
fourth year of his age. 

Mrs. Margaret Dunwoody, after the death of 
her husband in 1825, removed to Ohio, and later 
to Indiana. Mrs. Mary Stewart became a resident 
of Northern Ohio (Bucyrus perhaps). Mrs. Martha 
Robinson, Mrs. Jane Hannah, and Sarah, who died 
unmarried, were residents of Butler County, Ohio. 
Mrs. Robinson was buried at Monroe, O. ; Mrs. 
Hannah and Sarah Morrow at Hamilton, O. 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 59 



THE WILSON FAMILY. 

On June 28, 1832, at Hamilton, O., by Rev. Adam 
Gilliland, John M. Cochran was married to Martha 
Jane Wilson, who was the daughter of Joseph 
Wilson and Eliza (Dick) Wilson. Joseph Wilson 
was the eldest son of James Wilson, a north-of- 
Ireland Presbyterian, who came to America in 
early youth and settled in Pennsylvania. He there 
married Nancy McClintock, and moved to Ohio 
in 1800, settling near Dayton. Two years after- 
wards he moved to Dick's Creek, Warren County, 
O., and lived there until his death, at the age of 
eighty -four years. He was born in December, 
1750, and died October 26, 1834. His wife, Nancy 
(McClintock) Wilson, was born in December, 1758, 
and died March 26, 1844. Of Nancy McClintock's 
sister it is told that in the Indian massacre of 
Wyoming Valley, in Pennsylvania, she was scalped 



60 IN MEMORIAM 

and left for dead, but was afterwards picked up, 
recovered, and as a Mrs. Durham lived to rear a 
large family of children. 

Of James and Nancy Wilson's family, Mary, 
the eldest, was born August 25, 1777. She mar- 
ried Robert Gilchrist, of Lebanon, O., who joined 
Hull's ill-fated army in the war of 181 2, and was 
killed in the battle of Brownstown. In the settle- 
ment of Robert Gilchrist's estate, Mary's father, 
James Wilson, then an old man, was on his way 
to Cincinnati, and was thrown from a young horse 
which he was riding, suffering injuries to the head 
and spine which affected his mind, and from 
which he never recovered. Robert Gilchrist was 
the father of Parks and Robert Wilson Gilchrist. 
Parks died in 1885 ; all of his children, including 
Joseph, Mary, and young Rev. Robert Gilchrist, 
having preceded their father to the grave, Joseph 
leaving a wife and two children in Lebanon. 
Robert Wilson Gilchrist is living at this writing, 
and in a letter to the editor regrets a failing of 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 61 

memory through old age which prevents a tracing 
up of his family. 

The second child of James and Nancy Wilson, 
Jane, was born November 17, 1778. While the 
family were moving West in 1800 she married 
Sidney Smith at Pittsburgh, and there remained. 
She left descendants at Erie, Penn. 

Joseph, the third child, was born January 31, 
1 781, and was married to Kliza, daughter of Samuel 
Dick, of Butler County, January 9, 1812. For a 
number of years he was a merchant in Rossville, 
now West Hamilton, O., and there died October 
28, 1830. His wife, who was born November 10, 
1789, died November 30, 1825, leaving two young 
daughters, Nancy Ann and Martha Jane. The 
family of children comprised but three. Samuel 
Dick Wilson, born September 21, 1812, died in 
infancy February 21, 18 13. Nancy Ann Wilson 
was born January 31, 1814, and died at Lincoln, 
Neb., December 30, 1884. Martha Jane Wilson, 
now living at Glendale, O., the widow of John M. 



62 IN MEMORIAM 

Cochran, was born March 17, 1816. Some time 
after their mother's death the young daughters 
went from Rossville to live with their grandfather, 
Samuel Dick, near Millville. November 17, 1831, 
Nancy Ann Wilson married Joseph Blair, eldest 
son of Thomas Blair, of Hamilton, born in that 
town March 16, 1810. Of him a daughter writes 
that u he was a true Mason and Odd Fellow, a strict 
church member, and an honorable member of 
society, devoting all his time outside of his busi- 
ness and family to doing good to his fellow-men." 
He died of cholera September 16, 1849, near Mill- 
ville, O., and was buried in West Hamilton grave- 
yard, now a public park. The family lived for 
some years in Hamilton, moved to the South, then 
back to Butler County, where Joseph Blair died. 
His widow with her family moved to Lafayette, 
Ind., remaining some years, and in 1880 went 
to Lincoln, Neb., where four of the surviving 
daughters now live, and where, in Wyuka Ceme- 
tery, the mother's remains are resting. Mrs. Blair 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 63 

was a sincere and dutiful Christian, a devoted 
mother, and a faithful friend. Fergus Anderson 
Blair, the second son, was born in Hamilton, O., 
on the 7th of March, 1835. He led an indus- 
trious, moral life, and died in young manhood at 
Monticello, White County, Ind., where his remains 
are buried. Thomas Wilson Blair, the eldest 
child, born in Hamilton on October 1, 1832, was 
married March 29, 1865, to Elizabeth M. Gage, 
of Dowagiac, Mich. He lived in several States, 
being by occupation a railroad engineer. His 
health failing, he went to California, and died 
of consumption in Sacramento March 3, 1882, 
leaving a wife and four children, the two eldest 
of whom live in Kearney, Neb., the daughter 
marrying E. O. Edwards; the wife and two young- 
est children living in Lincoln, Neb. Mary R., 
fourth daughter of Joseph Blair, who married in 
Lafayette, Ind., Austin Banks, removed to Denver, 
Col., and has two sons, Walter and Albert. The 
other four daughters, Anna, Margaret, Martha 



64 _IN MEMOR.IAM 

Jane, and Josephine, as already stated, live in 
Lincoln, Neb. 

Margaret, fourth child of James and Nancy 
Wilson, was born in September, 1782. She mar- 
ried John R. Parks, a farmer, near Blue Ball, O., 
who died in Rushville, Ind., where then located. 
Margaret died May 8, 1856, at the home of her 
brother, Matthew Wilson. John Wilson, born 
November 6, 1784, married Jane Dick, daughter 
of Samuel Dick, and had a family of seven daugh- 
ters and one son. John Wilson died in 1852, at 
Numa, Parke County, Ind., a town which he him- 
self founded and named. James Wilson, Jr., was 
born August 16, 1786, and died at Harrison, O. 
Ann Wilson, born November 18, 1788, married 
Moses W. Carr, went to Monticello, White County, 
Ind., and lived and died there. Mr. Carr kept a 
store for a while at Middletown, Ohio. William 
Wilson was born in March, 1791, and married Eliza 
Gard, daughter of Dr. Gard, of Butler County, O. 
His wife died and he was subsequently married. 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 60 

He left Ohio and settled near Laporte, Ind., where 
he owned twelve hundred acres of land, and there 
died. Sarah Wilson was born February 7, 1795. 
She married Robert Carr, of Blue Ball, Warren 
County, O., who died there in August, 1839. 
Sarah died at the age of seventy -five years, and 
her remains were buried in the old Dick's Creek 
Cemetery, in Warren County. Matthew Wilson 
was born September 18, 1799. His wife, Eleanor, 
was born September 19, 1795, and died June 22, 
1855. Matthew Wilson died April 9, 1881, aged 
eighty -one years. The children of this family 
are Nancy J., born October 4, 1829; Mary E., 
born July 19, 1831; John McClure Wilson, born 
November 28, 1832 ; and Wm. McClintock Wilson, 
born July 7, 1839. The last named lives in the 
house built (1804) and occupied by his grand- 
father, James Wilson, and in turn occupied by his 
father, near Red Lion, Warren County, O. It is 
a substantial log structure, weather-boarded, and 
is the oldest house in that region. Nancy Wilson, 



66 IN MEMORIAM 

youngest child of the pioneer, James Wilson, was 
born November 26, 1800. She married Finley 
Bigger, and went to Rushville, Ind. 

Thus ends the record of this somewhat histor- 
ical family. 



JOHN M. COCHRAN (u 



THE DICK FAMILY. 

Martha Jane Wilson, wife of John M. Cochran, 
had for her grandfathers James Wilson and Samuel 
Dick. The latter was prominent among the first 
pioneers of the Great Northwest. He was born 
in County Antrim, Ireland, April 21, 1764. In 
1783 he came to America, and in the winter of 
1785-86, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, 
married Martha Allen Gillespie. In 1790, with 
his wife and two children, he came West, and 
settled in the small border village of Cincinnati 
where for a number of years he kept a tavern. 
He took part in the struggles of the settlers, and 
was one of the party of rescuers that started out 
to relieve the whites in Colerain Station, which 
was besieged by Indians. 

Samuel Dick, industrious and enterprising, 
purchased large tracts of land on Dick's Creek, 



68 IN MEMORIAM 

in Warren County, and on the Great Miami, in 
Hamilton County, where he subsequently estab- 
lished his home. He lived to a ripe old age, and 
died August 4, 1846. His wife was born March 
31, 1768, and died March 1, 1833. Their remains 
are buried in Bethel church- yard, near Millville, 
Butler County, Ohio, the Church at which place 
is now abandoned. 

Of the nine children there were four sons and 
five daughters. The eldest (George) was born 
January 18, 1787, and was married April 30, 1812, 
to Jane, daughter of Isaac Anderson. George 
Dick died on September 2, 1828, leaving seven 
children. His wife subsequently married Judge 
Nehemiah Wade. 

Eliza Dick was born November 10, 1789. She 
married Joseph Wilson on January 9, 181 2, and 
died November 30, 1825, leaving two daughters, 
Nancy Ann and Martha Jane. 

David Dick was born the 18th of November, 
1 791. He married Judith Bigham, the youngest 



JOHN M. COCHRAN, 69 

daughter of William Bigham. David Dick died 
May 23, 1873. 

Jane Dick was born November 1, 1793, and 
married John, brother of Joseph Wilson. She died 
November 1, 1875. John Wilson died in October, 
1853. They had eight children. 

Samuel Dick was born October 5, 1797. He 
was first married (May 24, 182 1) to Elizabeth 
Rhea, who left one son, David Homer, father of 
Frank and Jennie (Dick) Gray. Samuel Dick 
afterwards married (March 20, 1834) Isabella Park, 
now living, by whom he had fourteen children. 
He died January 1, 1871. 

Mary Dick was born October 5, 1800, and on 
June 28, 1 82 1, married Fergus Anderson, a promi- 
nent pioneer citizen, and brother of Jane Anderson, 
George Dick's wife. She died on October 4, 1859. 
They had ten children. 

Martha Dick was born March 12, 1804, and on 
January 18, 1827, married James, son of William 
Bigham, and a brother of Judith Bigham, who 



70 IN MEMORIAM 

married David Dick. She died June 27, 1875. 
They had four children. 

Susan Dick was born February 25, 1807, and 
married Thomas J., son of Hon. James Shields. 
She died May 4, 1843. 

James Dick was born January 9, 1809, and 
married Martha Gillespie, by whom he had two 
children, and subsequently married Mary Bevis, 
by whom he had two children, all now dead. He 
died December 25, 1867. 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 71 



A TRIBUTE. 

The annual meeting of the directors of the 
Hamilton, Springfield and Carthage Turnpike 
Company was held in Spring Dale, O., January 13, 
1890. The death of Honorable John Morrow 
Cochran, late president of the board, was formally 
announced, and Samuel F. Hunt and John L. 
Riddle were appointed a committee to prepare a 
suitable memorial. The following was submitted: 

"John Morrow Cochran died August 24, 1889, 
at his residence near Glendale. He was born near 
Gettysburg, Penn., June 18, 1808, and as early as 
18 14 came with his parents in wagons to the 
Miami Valley, where he resided until his death. 
His early education was acquired at the Academy 
in Spring Dale and at the Miami University. 

"In 1839 he located at Spring Dale, then 
Springfield, and in that year was elected president 



72 IN MEMORIAM 

of the Hamilton, Springfield and Carthage Turn- 
pike Company. This company was chartered by 
a special act of the General Assembly of Ohio, 
passed February 24, 1834, and for many years this 
turnpike was the important thoroughfare leading 
to Cincinnati from the northwest. For a full half 
century, with but a brief interval caused by his 
resignation, he served as president of the board. 
In 1840 he was elected to the legislature from 
Hamilton County, and again represented the 
county for two terms in 1864-67, and was again 
called by the people as a member of the General 
Assembly for the sessions of 1873-74. He also 
served the township in important public trusts. 

" No man better deserved the confidence of the 
community. He had a high sense of justice, and 
the people not only looked to him to discharge 
public duty, but committed to his care the admin- 
istration of their estates and the property of the 
widow and the orphan. In an experience larger 
and more varied perhaps than that of any man in 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 73 

Hamilton County, there was never even heard the 
whisper of scandal. His accounts of trusts admin- 
istered were models of neatness and order ; nor 
was there ever an exaction for services rendered. 
Those who have sat with him from year to year 
in this board will bear testimony to the fidelity 
with which he discharged his whole duty. He 
was punctual in attendance, prompt in the trans- 
action of business, and displayed rare common 
sense in all matters pertaining to the interests of 
the board. He loved his country, his family, and 
his fireside, and his death is a loss to the board 
and to this community. 

"It is therefore resolved, as an expression of 
sincere and affectionate regard, that this memorial 
be entered on the records of this board at length, 
and that a copy be transmitted to his family." 

General Hunt, in submitting the report to the 
board of directors, said : 

"It was my fortune, perhaps, to have known 
our departed friend and associate more intimately 



IN MEMORIAM 



than any one outside of his immediate family. 
The relations which existed between us were of 
the most tender and confidential character. The 
acquaintance began with the earliest recollections 
of my boyhood, and continued without interrup- 
tion to his death. He was the friend of my father, 
Dr. John Randolph Hunt, for more than forty 
years, and their companionship was so close that 
Mr. Cochran was intrusted without bond with the 
management and distribution of his estate. 

"The friendship of the families only ripened 
with the years, and my admission to the bar gave 
me an opportunity to know Mr. Cochran in a 
different relation. His life had been so uniform 
and consistent, his character so upright and honor- 
able, that for many years he was the most marked 
figure in our community. Public confidence in- 
creased with a knowledge of his high integrity. 
He was sought after in the administration and 
settlement of estates. There was no hesitation 
in committing to him the most sacred of trusts — 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 75 

the property of the widow and those of tender 
age. For more than twenty years we were asso- 
ciated as counsellor and client, and in all that 
time there was never a transaction on his part 
growing out of a fiduciary capacity that was not 
characterized by the most scrupulous honor. At 
one time there were not less than twenty- three 
estates under his charge, and he went down to the 
grave in peace in that he had rendered to every 
one that which was due. His stewardship was so 
faithful that his statements were accepted by the 
court without contention, and the compensation 
fixed for services was so just and reasonable that 
it was never questioned in one instance. Nor was 
there in that time a single exception filed to an 
account. He believed that conscience should be 
made the chief of the civic virtues, and he exem- 
plified it in a long career. Surely he has left the 
priceless legacy of a good name as an inheritance 
to his children. 

"John M. Cochran loved his country with an 



IN MEMORIAM 



abiding attachment. He was in the service of the 
State as early as 1840 as a legislator, and again 
served in that capacity in later years. His public 
life was marked by the same conscientious devo- 
tion to public duty, and when the Union was 
imperiled he performed important work as a 
member of the Military Committee of Hamilton 
County in stimulating enlistments and in building 
up a strong patriotic sentiment. We all know 
with what singular fidelity he served this board, 
and his record of half a century as its presiding 
officer is the untarnished history of duty dis- 
charged. 

"John Morrow Cochran was actively identified 
with the Miami Valley for more than sixty years, 
and whether as student or citizen or legislator, or 
acting in the fiduciary relation of administrator, 
executor, guardian, or trustee, there was always 
the supreme sense of obligation to do right. 

"It is said that there was an absolute confi- 
dence, shared by every Englishman, that while 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 



William Pitt was instrumental in conferring peer- 
age upon peerage, there was the incorruptible 
honor and the unsullied integrity. The great 
Commoner could look with indifference and even 
contempt on coronets and garters. It can be said, 
although he walked in a more modest sphere, that 
there was likewise an absolute conviction, shared 
by all among whom he lived and died, that no 
temptation ever turned Mr. Cochran from the path 
of rectitude. The memory he has left behind is 
that of the estimable friend and fellow-citizen. 

"This good man was laid to rest one quiet 
summer afternoon in the cemetery at Hamilton, 
amidst the dust of his kindred. We all looked 
into that open grave with emotions that hardly 
could be repressed. We had often gone over 
the old turnpike and the country roads together, 
and chatted hour after hour in genial intercourse, 
while the fragrance of the meadows came from 
the fields and the songs of the reapers mingled 
with the songs of the birds. It seemed to me, 



78 IN MEMORIAM 

as we returned from that grave on that evening, 
over the same turnpike, that a golden sunset 
which bathed forest and orchard and meadow in 
a mellow light was but typical of the sunset of his 
life, in that it reflected a glow over eighty years 
of both honest and noble purposes and deeds." 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 79 



GOLDEN WEDDING AND THANKSGIVING 
REUNION. 

There were two pleasant incidents in the history 
of John M. Cochran's family of sufficient interest 
to justify a mention here: the golden wedding 
and a Thanksgiving reunion. 

At the golden wedding — representative of a tie 
not broken for more than eight years afterwards — 
not all the children were present, but gifts were 
bestowed, and the following address, expressive 
of the sentiment of the occasion, was offered : 

Dear Father and Mother: 

When we stop to consider, this is no slight 
event in your lives and in ours. As a family 
anniversary it is one that comparatively few are 
permitted to celebrate, and in our family particu- 
larly there is at least one circumstance that is 



80 IN MBMORIAM 

extraordinary. Fifty years is a long time in any 

human life. They are not many who, as man and 

wife, can say to one another, "We were married 

fifty years ago to-day." Our home, it is true, has 

not been unvisited by sorrow, but we all can with 

thankfulness reflect that few indeed are the homes 

like ours, in which so many sons and daughters 

have been reared and reached our years, and 

which at the same time has never once been 

darkened by the death of one in adult age. 

It would be a happy privilege indeed could 

we all meet once more, on this occasion, at the 

dear old place, to revive together the recollections 

of childhood, and to congratulate you, our parents, 

in words of affection upon your attaining to this 

remarkable day ; but that pleasure being denied, 

we join in tendering you some little tokens of 

our regard and love. That God may grant you 

many more years of life, health, and happiness is 

our prayer. 

YOUR CHILDREN. 
Junk 28, [882. 



JOHN M. COCHRAN 81 

Iii 1885, the third year after the golden wed- 
ding, the Thanksgiving reunion occurred. Under 
the title "A Notable Thanksgiving Gathering" 
the following article appeared in the Cincinnati 
Commercial Gazette at that time : 

"The residence of John M. Cochran in Glendale 
was the place of an interesting family gathering 
on Thanksgiving- day. Every one of the sons 
and daughters, nine in number, was present — 
the first time the circle of the old homestead has 
been complete for upwards of thirty years. Mr. 
Cochran, as a member of his father's household, 
settled upon the lands which he now tills nearly 
three quarters of a century ago. There he has 
lived a virtuous, temperate though active life to 
a hale old age, only broken by a somewhat serious 
attack of sickness during last summer, from which 
he has happily almost wholly recovered. The 
ingathering of the children was, as usual, a happy 
occasion for the aged father and mother, the more 
touching, the more comforting, in the fact that 



82 IN MEMORIAM 

this time there was no absent one. The roll 
showed the following family list: John M. Coch- 
ran, the father, aged seventy-seven, and Martha J. 
Cochran, the mother, aged sixty-nine. Sons: 
William A.Cochran, Macon County, 111.; Joseph W. 
Cochran, Minneapolis, Minn.; John M. Cochran, 
Jr., Glendale, O.; Samuel D. Cochran, Cincinnati; 
Jere M. Cochran, Cincinnati; and James Marion 
Cochran, Rainbelt, Kan. Daughters: Mrs. W. H. 
James, Spring Dale, O.; Miss Rebecca J. Cochran 
and Miss Nannie A. Cochran, Glendale, O. To 
the list may appropriately be added the name of 
Miss Dorcas Woods, who was installed as a mem- 
ber of the family before the first child was born. 
That a family scattered about like this should 
after the lapse of so many years muster so large 
a number at a Thanksgiving feast is remarkable." 
For a souvenir of the occasion a photographic 
picture of the family group was taken. 



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